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Sendō Takeshi
Sendou Takeshi (千堂 武士, lit sendou takeshi) is a Featherweight boxer from the Naniwa Kentou Boxing Gym and the former JBC Featherweight Champion. History Sendou's father was a fireman who died while saving the life of a child. Since young, Sendou was known to be rude and problematic, having lead his own delinquent gang in the streets. However, it is mentioned by his grandma that Sendou did so to protect innocent civilians from other delinquent gangs. He is first introduced watching a tape of Makunouchi Ippo's spectacular KO victory against Mashiba Ryou and, fired up by the tape, decides to go visit Tokyo for a match against Ippo. He leaves half-disappointed however when he learns of Ippo's broken fist, but declares hopefully to Ippo that he would be'' "waiting for him in Osaka'" ''when the time comes for their match, accidentally leaving a bag of souvenirs at the station upon his leave. Disheartened, Sendou does not put much effort into his training until a package arrives in the mail, along with a letter from Ippo stating that they may be able to have their match after all. Renewed by the prospective match Sendou quickly jumps back into intense training, waiting for the day of his match against Ippo. Despite all his training for the match, Sendou ultimately loses consciousness in his own corner before the start of the fourth round. However, both fighters agree that unless one collapses in the ring, the fight remains unfinished. The two fighters then anxiously wait for the day of their rematch. Sendou is seen again after Date Eiji's match against Ricardo Martinez, having claimed the All Japan Featherweight title. He is pitted against Shigeta Akira, whose provocations of his and Ippo's style of boxing led Sendou to permanently removing Akira from the ring, forcing the other boxer into retirement with his rage. He then successfully keeps his promise to have a match with Makunouchi Ippo for his belt and once again loses, this time with a true knockout from his 'rival'. Sendou is also present in Takamura's world title match against Bryan Hawk, along with many other friends and boxing acquaintances where he is seen conversing happily with Miyata, who attempts to ignore him. Sendou's opponents after his second bout with Makunouchi have largely been Mexican due to his want to defeat Ricardo Martinez and claim the world featherweight title. He, along with Ippo and Randy Boy Jr. are the only individual featherweights to specifically aim for Ricardo. Match History Successions Appearance Sendou is a man of rugged appearance, reflecting his brash personality and career as a boxer. He sports an extremely muscular build, a tanned complexion, and is of average height. His hair is dark brown, long, and unkempt, styled in a swept-forward manner with countless tufts jutting out in all possible directions. Sendou also has thin eyebrows and large eyes with black pupils. Nicknames, etc. Personality A brash, actions-before-thoughts boxer, Sendou is shown to be incredibly energetic and competitive when it comes down to boxing. As an average lower-class Osaka resident he speaks in the Kansai dialect and, despite being rude and temperamental, Sendou possesses an extremely kind heart. His personality also incorporates a certain stinginess, having sent Ippo an invitation to one of his own fights while expecting Ippo to pay him for the expense of the ticket. In a conversation with Makunouchi Ippo it is revealed that Sendou respects and looks up to real-life boxer Rocky Marciano. He specifically points out that the 'Rocky' in his nickname does not come from the popular Rocky film series, but from Marciano. Fighting Style and Techniques Sendo is an instinctive infighter who is heavy handed with his blows. He possesses incredible lower and upper body strength, comparable to Ippo, although his optimum punching distance is actually at a medium range. He is almost feral in his fighting approach, relying on sheer instincts, rather than technique to avoid injury in his matches. Tactically, he is large with his punches and uses wide swings to instill a sense of fear into his opponent, which he takes advantage of to set his rhythm. He has showcased a powerful dash built up through hours of running with ankle weights. Sendo's prideful nature means that he will very rarely step back or retreat during a match, which has proved to be a crude but effective natural seal to techniques such as the Dempsey Roll which rely on unbroken rhythms and starting distance. Techniques *Crouching Style *Brawling Style *Smash *Low Smash *Deadly Smash *Swing *Counter *Body Blow *Cross Arm Block Weaknesses His prideful boxing style is also his main weakness. His guard is essentially non-existent, and his main offensive technique, the Smash, requires a large swinging motion, leaving him completely open for counters. (Though, rather than improve the technique's defense, Sendo instead chose to increase the power with a lower and more vertical punch.) His instincts can also be used against him, as they often lead him to make rash decisions too quickly to judge the danger behind them. Sendo has also pointed out that his style is very weak against counters. He has never beaten Sawamura in a spar even once. Gallery SendoDestroysRamirez.jpg|Sendo performing his signature Smash. Hajime-no-ippo_sendo.jpg|Sendou after defeating Shigeta Akira. Sendou amv|Fan AMV Trivia *Sendou has been seen doing roadwork only twice throughout the entire series, which was during his introduction before the All Japan Rookie King tournament and preceding his rematch with Ippo (though he was coming home from roadwork that time). Despite never being seen seriously training, reportedly having to go through weight control, and most of his bouts being one or two rounds long, he hasn't been shown to have problems with stamina in his longest matches. *The game console he promised to buy the neighborhood kids in the manga,appears to be an SNES, whereas in the anime,the console appears to be a SONY PS2. *As his nickname suggests, Sendou is based on the boxer Rocky Marciano. *As of Volume 99, Sendou is the only boxer to land a clean hit against Takamura in a spar. *Ippo, Mashiba and Sendou have theme songs in the first season of the anime. Sendou's theme is "Black and Blue". *Sendou and Mashiba's meeting at Ippo's eighth title defense was their first encounter throughout the series. *On the day of Ippo's pro test, someone looking remarkably similar to Sendou (referred to only as #11) went right before him at the weight check. However, the person weighed 140.5 lbs., which is well above the featherweight limit. It is unlikely this person was Sendou. Category:Active boxers Category:Male characters Category:Characters from Japan Category:Characters from Osaka Category:Naniwa Kentou-kai Category:Featherweights Category:In Fighters Category:Western Japan Rookie King Category:Japanese Featherweight Champion Category:Boxers Category:Orthodox Boxers